Jailed Journos Reach Out to Family
Brief phone call is first contact in weeks
AP
Euna Lee and Laura Ling are stressed about their impending trip to a hard labor camp.
Jailed journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee, being held in North Korea, were able to speak by phone to family members Tuesday for the first time in weeks.
It has been a little more than a month since the two were sentenced to 12 years of hard labor for spying in North Korea and Lisa Ling, sister of Laura, told CNN the pair are “stressed.”
"It was only the first time I had heard her voice in weeks. ... I was so relieved but I feel so helpless," Lisa Ling, a CNN contributor, said Wednesday. "Because as an older sister, a best friend, a self-professed 'doer,' it's just difficult to know I cannot do anything to bring her home."
Lisa Ling, who said the captives are engulfed in a “terrifying and deafening” silence, is campaigning for the U.S. to enter into diplomatic talks with North Korea in order to try and free the reporters.
"I know that our government has been working behind the scenes very hard trying to bring the girls back home," she said. But she added, "Our countries don't talk, and perhaps this could be a reason."
Posted Tuesday, Jul 14, 2009 - 1:38 AM CST
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